U. S. AIRCRAFT CARRIERS THAT PARTICPATED IN THE Mutual Defense Assistance Program (Lend Lease Program) (1951 to 1972), U. S. NAVY TRAINING CARRIERS IN THE NAVAL AIR RESSERVE (NAR), REDESIGNATED AIRCRAFT CARRIER TRAINING CARRIER, AIRCRAFT CARRIERS IN COMMISSION IN RESERVE (1947 to 1991) AND U.S. AIRCRAFT CARRIERS THAT PARTICPATED IN THE SPACE PROGRAM AND PRIMARY RECOVER SHIP
(1962 to 1975)
U.S. AIRCRAFT CARRIERS THAT PARTICPATED IN THE SPACE PROGRAM AND PRIMARY RECOVER SHIP (1962 to 1975)
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AIRCRAFT CARRIER
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SPACE PROGRAM
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AIR WING
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TAIL CODE
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DEPART
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RETURN
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USS Lake Champlain (CVS-39)
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Prime recovery vessel for the Space Program Freedom 7
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ASW Carrier
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1 May 1961
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USS Randolph (CVS-15)
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Prime recovery vessel for the Space Program Mercury-Redstone 4
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CVSG-58
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AV
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July 1961
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Aug. 1961
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USS Randolph (CVS-15)
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Prime recovery vessel for the first American orbital voyage in space
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CVSG-58
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AV
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Feb. 1962
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Mar. 1962
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USS Kearsarge (CVS-33)
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Prime recovery vessel for the Project Mercury
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CVSG-53
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1 Aug. 1962
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USS Kearsarge (CVS-33)
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Prime recovery vessel for the Space Program Faith 7
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CVSG-53
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April 1963
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3 Dec. 1963
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USS Intrepid (CVS-11)
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Prime recovery vessel for the first manned Gemini flight, Gemini 3 / Gemini 3 (03/23/1965
to 03/23/1965)
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23 March 1965
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USS Wasp (CVS-18)
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Prime recovery vessel for the Gemini IV Capsule and astronauts off the eastern seaboard Gemini IV (06/03/1965 to 06/07/1965)
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CVSG-52
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31 May 1965
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mid June 1965
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USS Lake Champlain (CVS-39)
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Prime recovery vessel for the Gemini 5 / Gemini V (08/21/1965 to 8/29/1965)
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5 Aug. 1965
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USS Wasp (CVS-18)
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Recovered the astronauts of Gemini VIA and VII after their splashdown off the eastern seaboard Gemini VI (12/15/1965 to 12/16/1965) and Gemini VII (12/04/1965 to 12/18/1965)
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CVSG-52
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16 Dec. 1965
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22 Dec. 1965
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USS Boxer (LPH-4), former CVS-21, CVA-21 & CV
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Recovered the first unmanned spacecraft of the Apollo series, fired into suborbital flight by a Saturn 1B rocket
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26 Feb. 1966
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*USS Leonard F. Mason DD-852
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Prime recovery vessel for the Gemini VIII (03/16/1966 to
3/16/1966)
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March 1966
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USS Wasp (CVS-18)
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Prime recovery vessel for the Gemini IX-A (6/03/1966
6/06/1966)
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June 1966
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Not Reported
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Gemini X (7/18/1966
7/21/1966)
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July 1966
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USS Hornet (CVS-12)
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Prime recovery vessel for the unmanned Apollo AS-202 capsule “moon ship”
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CVSG-57
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NV
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25 Aug. 1966
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2 Sep. 1966
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USS Guam LPH-9
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Prime recovery vessel for the Gemini XI (9/12/1966
9/15/1966)
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Sep. 1966
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USS Wasp (CVS-18)
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Prime recovery vessel for the Gemini XII recovery operation (11/11/1966 to 11/15/1966)
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CVSG-52
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5 Nov. 1966
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18 Nov. 1966
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USS Bennington (CVS-20)
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Prime recovery vessel for the unmanned Apollo 4 mission and on 9 November 1967 recovered the capsule, which had splash downed 16 km from the ship
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9 Nov. 1967
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USS Essex (CVS-9)
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Prime recovery vessel for the Apollo 7 mission
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22 Oct. 1968
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USS Arlington (AGMR-2)
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Manned Spacecraft Recovery Force, Pacific - TF 130 Apollo 8
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18 Dec. 1968
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29 Dec. 1968
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USS Arlington (AGMR-2)
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Manned Spacecraft Recovery Force, Pacific - TF 130 Apollo 8
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18 Dec. 1968
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29 Dec. 1968
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USS Princeton (LPH-5), former CVS-37, CVA-37, CV & Valley Forge
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Prime recovery vessel for the prime recovery ship for Apollo 10, the lunar mission which paved the way for Apollo 11 and the first landing on the Moon
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Apr. 1969
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USS Arlington (AGMR-2)
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Manned Spacecraft Recovery Force, Pacific - TF 130 - Apollo 10
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2 May 1969
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26 May 1969
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USS Hornet (CVS-12)
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Prime recovery vessel for Apollo 11
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12 July 1969
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1 Aug. 1969
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USS Arlington (AGMR-2)
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Manned Spacecraft Recovery Force, Pacific - TF 130 - Apollo 11
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24 July 1969
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USS Hornet (CVS-12)
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Prime recovery vessel for Apollo 12
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27 Oct. 1969
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4 Dec. 1969
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USS Ticonderoga (CVS-14)
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Prime recovery vessel for the Apollo 16 moon mission capsule
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April 1972
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USS Lake Champlain (CVS-39) was selected as the prime recovery ship for the first manned space flight and sailed for the recovery area 1 May 1961, and was on station on the 5th when Comdr. Alan Shepard was recovered along with spacecraft Freedom 7 after splashdown, some 300 miles down range from Cape Kennedy. Helicopters from the carrier visually followed the descent of the capsule and were over the astronaut 2 minutes after the impact. They skillfully recovered Astronaut Sheppard and Freedom 7 and carried them safely to Lake Champlain's flight deck.
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USS Randolph (CVS-15) was selected as the prime recovery ship for the second American (suborbital) spaceflight. Mercury-Redstone 4 was a Mercury program manned space mission launched on July 21, 1961 using a Redstone rocket. Its capsule was named Liberty Bell 7 and performed a suborbital flight piloted by astronaut Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom and Prime recovery vessel for Mercury-Atlas 6 "Friendship 7," with Astronaut John Glenn on his flight, the first American orbital voyage in space. After his historic three-orbit flight, he landed safely near the destroyer USS Noa (DD0841) from which he was transferred, by helicopter, to Randolph on 20 February1962.
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Upon completion of repairs and training, USS Kearsarge (CVS-33) with CVSG-53 embarked departed Long Beach, Calif. 1 August 1962, operating in the Pacific missile range as a recovery ship in the Project Mercury orbital space flight of astronaut Walter Schirra.
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USS Kearsarge (CVS-33) repeated her earlier splashdown recovery by plucking astronaut Gordon Cooper on 18 May 1963, after he orbited the earth 22 times in his capsule "Faith 7. After taking part in Fleet exercises off Puerto Rico, the carrier returned to Boston on 4 April. From 11 to 18 May, USS Wasp (CVS-18) took station off Bermuda as a backup recovery ship for Major Gordon Cooper's historic Mercury space capsule recovery. The landing occurred as planned in the mid-Pacific near Midway Atoll, and carrier USS Kearsage (CVA 33) picked up Cooper and his Faith 7 space craft. Wasp then resumed antisubmarine warfare exercises along the Atlantic seaboard and in the Caribbean until she underwent overhaul in the fall of 1963 for FRAM (Fleet rehabilitation and modernization) overhaul in the Boston Naval Shipyard. In March 1964, the carrier conducted sea trials out of Boston.
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GT-03 Gemini 3 - On 23 March 1965 Lt. Comdr. John Young and Maj. Gus Grissom in Molly Brown splashed down some 50 miles from USS Intrepid (CVS-11) after history's first controlled re-entry into the earth's atmosphere ended the pair's nearly perfect three-orbit flight. A Navy helicopter lifted the astronauts from the spacecraft and flew them to Intrepid for medical examination and debriefing. Later Intrepid retrieved Molly Brown and returned the spaceship and astronauts to Cape Kennedy. March 23, 1965. Landing at 22deg26m North and 70deg 51min West. Miss distance from landing zone 111.1km (60nm). Recovered by Intrepid. Crew onboard in 70 min.
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GT-04 Gemini IV - June 7, 1965. Landing was at 27deg 44min North and 74deg 11min West. Landing was 81.4km from attempted landing zone.
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USS Lake Champlain (CVS-39) was selected as the prime recovery ship for the Gemini 5 / Gemini V - splashed down into the Atlantic 90 miles off target after a record-breaking eight-day space flight, and 45 minutes later, Navy frogmen from the backup recovery ship USS DuPont (DD-941) helped astronauts Gordon Cooper and Charles Conrad out of their space capsule and aboard a helicopter for the ride back to Lake Champlain. GT-05 Gemini V - August 29, 1965. Landing was at 29deg44min North and 69deg 45min West. Miss distance was 170.3km (92nm) (crew onboard in 89 min).
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GT-06 Gemini VI-A - December 16, 1965. Landing was at 23deg 35min North and 67deg 50min West. Miss distance was 12.9km (7nm). Recovered by the USS Wasp (CVS-18) (crew onboard in 66min).
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GT-07 Gemini VII - December 18, 1965. Landed at 25deg 25.1min North, 70.6deg 7min West Miss distance was 11.8km (6.4nm).
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USS Boxer (LPH-4) participated in the U.S. space program in the South Atlantic as prime recovery for the first suborbital test of Saturn IB and Block I Apollo Command and Service Modules, when the first unmanned spacecraft of the Apollo series, was fired into suborbital flight by a Saturn IB AS-201 rocket from Cape Kennedy, Fla. on mission AS-201, at 16:12 GMT 26 February 1966, recovered in the southeast Atlantic Ocean, 200 miles east of Ascension Island by a helicopter from the ship, demonstrating heat shield; propellant pressure loss caused premature SM engine shutdown.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Apollo_missions
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GT-08 Gemini VIII - March 17, 1966. Landing was at 25deg 13.8min North and 136deg 0min East. Pacific Ocean. Recovered by the USS Leonard F. Mason (DD-852) (crew onboard in 3 hours). “USS Boxer (LPH-4) participated in the U.S. space program off Bermuda as primary recovery ship for Gemini 8 manned space shot; technical difficulties required the splashdown off Okinawa and USS Leonard F. Mason (DD-852) was called upon in March 1965 to recover the vessel” (Ref. 843).
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GT-09 Gemini IX-A June 6, 1966. Landing was at 27deg 52min N and 75deg 0.4min West. Miss distance .704 miles (.38 nm). Recovery ship USS Wasp (CVS-18) (crew onboard in 52 min).
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GT-10 Gemini X - July 21, 1966. 4:07pm. Landing was at 26deg 44.7min North and 71deg 57min West. Miss distance was 6.2km (3.4 nm).
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On 25 August 1966, USS Hornet (CVS-12) was designated primary Apollo recovery platform for the unmanned Apollo AS-202 capsule “moon ship” that rocketed three-quarters of the way around the globe in 93 minutes before splashdown 300 miles northeast of Wake Island. Scorched from the heat of its re-entry into the earth's atmosphere, the Apollo space capsule, designed to carry American astronauts to the moon, was brought aboard Hornet after its test. Hornet off loaded the unmanned Apollo AS-202 capsule “moon ship” at NS Long Beach, Ca. 2 September 1966.
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GT-11 Gemini XI - September 15, 1966. Landing was at 24deg 15.4min North and 70deg 0.0min West. Miss distance was 4.9km (2.65nm). Recovery ship USS Guam (crew onboard in 24 min). Apollo 11 was the spaceflight which landed the first humans, Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr, on Earth's Moon on July 20, 1969, at 20:17:39 UTC. The United States mission is considered the major accomplishment in the history of space exploration. Launched from the Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 in Merritt Island, Florida on July 16, Apollo 11 was the fifth manned mission, and the third lunar mission, of NASA's Apollo program. The crew consisted of Armstrong as Commander and Aldrin as Lunar Module Pilot, with Command Module Pilot Michael Collins. Armstrong and Aldrin landed in the Sea of Tranquillity and became the first humans to walk on the Moon on July 21. Their Lunar Module, Eagle, spent 21 hours 31 minutes on the lunar surface, while Collins remained in orbit in the Command/Service Module, Columbia.[2] The three astronauts returned to Earth on July 24, landing in the Pacific Ocean. They brought back 47.5 pounds (21.5 kg) of lunar rocks. Apollo 11 fulfilled U.S. President John F. Kennedy's goal of reaching the Moon before the Soviet Union by the end of the 1960s, which he had expressed during a 1961 mission statement before the United States Congress: "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth."[3] Six additional Apollo missions flew to the Moon and five landed between 1969 and 1972. The three astronauts returned to Earth and splashed down in the Pacific ocean, to be picked up by the USS Hornet (CVS-12).
2. NASA Apollo 11 Timeline
3. Stenger, Richard (May 25, 2001). "Man on the Moon: Kennedy speech ignited the dream". CNN. Archived from the original on June 6, 2010. http://web.archive.org/web/20100606035837 - http://archives.cnn.com/2001/TECH/space/05/25/kennedy.moon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11
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Gemini XII spacecraft recovery took place on 15 November 1966 when the space capsule splashdown occurred within three miles of USS Wasp (CVS-18). Capt. James A. Lovell and Maj. Edwin E. Aldrin were lifted by helicopter hoist to the deck of Wasp and there enjoyed two days of celebration (5 to 18 November 1966) - GT-12 Gemini XII - Nov 15, 1966. Landed at 24deg 35min North 69deg 57min West. Miss distance was 4.8km (2.6nm).
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USS Essex (CVS-9) was scheduled to be the prime recovery carrier for the ill fated Apollo 1 space mission. It was to pick up the Apollo 1 astronauts north of Puerto Rico on March 7, 1967 after a 14-day spaceflight. However, the mission did not take place because on January 27, 1967, the Apollo 1 crew were killed by a flash fire in their spacecraft on the launch pad at Kennedy Space Center.
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USS Essex (CVS-9) was the prime recovery carrier for the Apollo 7 mission. It recovered the Apollo 7 crew on October 22, 1968 after a splashdown north of Puerto Rico.
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